All in the Game
by Spring Zephyr
Summary: Literally, the awkward and unexpected situations that come from playing a video game with your crush. GreySkyShipping, Kyouhei/Hugh, pre-relationship.


**Pre-slash!?**

**A friend told me to post this one.**

Hugh and Kyouhei spent the day doing what normal people their age did when they had friends over: absolutely nothing productive. Downstairs, Hugh's mother just couldn't figure it out – mumbling something about how kids in her days actually went outside of the house sometimes, got some sunlight – but that wasn't the important thing right now.

They did go outside sometimes, and they both played in various sports almost year round.

_But that wasn't the important thing right now_.

The darker haired teenager, Hugh, sat on the floor with a controller in his hands, leaning against his un-made bed. There was a distinct look of frustration on his face, not helped at all by the noisiness of his friend behind him:

"Left, dodge left!"

It was technically Kyouhei's game, that Hugh had asked to borrow for the day. Therefore, it made sense that Kyouhei would know best what to do, even if he was just watching. But listening to him scream was more of a distraction than a help.

"Hugh, just kill the son of a-"

"Will you shut up already!?" Hugh snapped back, before Kyouhei could finish that sentence.

This kind of banter wasn't unusual between them. Nobody was actually being hurt by it.

"Ugh, no," Kyouhei groaned as the screen darkened to a game over.

Nobody except the characters dying on screen, anyway. That split second Hugh had looked away from them to yell at Kyouhei had turned out to be fatal.

"You really shouldn't have used all your best moves right away like that..."

Hugh bit his lip and said nothing. The game was asking him if he'd like to try again, and Hugh replied with a short chain of swears. Kyouhei had been right about the difficulty level in this game – it was insane. But as frustrating as it was, Hugh wasn't a quitter, even if this meant his tenth attempt at this area's boss. His competitive edge had gotten the best of him more than once, and even things like stupid video games were no exception to that.

But when Hugh lost again five minutes later, the frustration he felt was starting to become less of a determined drive forward and more of an agonizing pressure. Kyouehi never relented in his attempts to 'instruct' him either.

"And really, dude, dodge left when I tell you to! This guy has a certain attack pattern, I can tell which direction he's going to be attacking in a few seconds before he does it!"

"This is way too hard. And just because you say 'dodge' doesn't mean I can!"

Despite his complaint, Hugh selected the 'retry' option yet again.

The dark game over screen faded away, and the television displayed a battlefield once more. Before Hugh could press any more buttons, Kyouhei spoke up, "Here, let me help you this time..."

"I think you've helped me enou-"

Hugh was cut off before he could finish the sentence; a pair of hands slid up against his before he could rearrange the team position of any of his characters. And more importantly, there was a certain very, very close warmth against his back and the side of his neck that hadn't been there before as Kyouhei leaned in from behind him to pick up the controller with his own hands. The side of Kyouhei's face came to a rest against his head, and because Kyouhei had been sitting on top of the bed, his legs now dangled off the edge with his knees positioned on either side of Hugh's shoulders.

He's probably just trying to find a comfortable sitting position, Hugh informed himself. It didn't prevent his throat from going dry, nor did it stop his heart beat from speeding up.

Kyouhei's fingers slid over Hugh's as if he intended to guide them, which was awkward enough while playing a video game – and being almost sixteen years old, too! He shouldn't need this kind of baby guidance – even without the rush of feelings Hugh was now encountering.

He might have avoided mentioning it to Kyouhei since the sixth grade after finally working out his feelings, but Hugh sort of maybe had a crush on his friend. The current closeness wasn't helping.

A small sound escaped from his mouth caused by the warmth and the closeness of the other boy and certain _unecessary thoughts,_ and Hugh dropped the controller, flushing red with embarrassment. Somebody's fingers slipped across the buttons as the controller fell – Hugh couldn't tell whose in his current state, but he thought probably his – causing one of the characters to run off in a hazordous direction and let out an indignant cry as they crashed into an obstacle on the field. With the first action having been taken, the battle automatically started once more, and this time Hugh knew right from the beginning that he had no chance at beating it. Not after the fumbling that badly. Hugh attempted to pretend the flustered feeling resulting from his crush was more like irritation as he yelled at Kyouhei again:

"Wha... What the hell was that about!?"

Kyouhei laid back on the bed again, smirking in an all-knowing way, obviously not too fooled about Hugh's fake annoyance. Hugh couldn't decide if it would be better or worse if Kyouhei could guess at what he was actually feeling.

"You were helpless on your own!" Kyouhei replied. "You looked like you needed me."

"I did not!" Hugh immediately retorted. "And that most certainly wasn't _helpful_!"

Half of that was probably the biggest lie he had ever told in his almost sixteen years of life. The other was entirely true.

**I had a certain game in mind while writing this... but while editing, I changed/removed all the references to it. I no longer have any idea which game they're playing, but it's not the game I originally had in mind. Which was Resonance of Fate, by the way.**


End file.
